Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the cross-sector group referred to in Action 54 of A Forward Strategy for Scottish Agriculture will meet; whether the group will include any trade union representatives, and what strategy the Executive has to ensure gender balance within the group.

Ross Finnie: No date has yet been arranged for a meeting of the cross-sector steering group referred to in Action 54 of A Forward Strategy for Scottish Agriculture . The main trade union involved with the agriculture industry was offered the opportunity to contribute to the development of A Forward Strategy for Scottish Agriculture . They did not submit a response to the consultation document, but I will continue to ensure that they are involved in the process.

  I am well aware of the contribution women make to Scotland’s farming and food industries, and I will continue to try to ensure that this is reflected across the range of bodies established by the Executive.

Agriculture

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to implement any strategies in order to make the agriculture industry safer for workers.

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to implement any strategies in order to make farm environments safer for children.

Ross Finnie: Health and safety in the workplace is a matter reserved to the UK Parliament and remains the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions.

Agriculture

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has relating to any current use of organophosphates on farms.

Ross Finnie: The information requested is not held centrally.

Air Services

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to support a route development fund for air links to and from Scotland and, if so, what scheme is under consideration and, if not, what strategy it has for the development of air links

Lewis Macdonald: There are no specific plans for a route development fund. The Scottish Executive works in partnership with the Enterprise Networks, VisitScotland and the airport operators on how best any available funding can be deployed for the greatest benefit of the Scottish economy and tourism. The Scottish Executive continues to encourage the development of more commercial and cost effective air services from Scotland for the benefit of the travelling public and the Scottish economy.

Drug Misuse

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria will be used to distribute to health boards resources from the £28 million to be spent on tackling drugs, announced by the Minister for Finance and Local Government on 28 June 2001.

Iain Gray: £3.1 million of the additional resources was identified for treatment. This is on top of the additional £10 million already allocated to health boards from the Spending Review.

  Of the £3.1 million, £1.1 million per annum has been allocated to health boards for 2002-03 and 2003-04 in line with the Arbuthnott Substance Misuse Formula. The remaining £0.9 million for this year has been subject to bids from health boards and successful boards will be notified of allocations shortly.

Education

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to ensure that all education authorities will develop policies to meet the health care needs of all pupils.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Executive expects education authorities to develop policies on health education that will ensure that their health education programme effectively meets pupils' needs and develops pupils' ability to take responsibility for their health. To assist education authorities, Health Education 5 -14 National Guidelines  have been published, together with Guidance for Teachers and Managers.

  Alongside this the Executive is encouraging education authorities to adopt a multi-agency approach to meeting the needs of the whole child, including through New Community Schools which bring together education, health, social work and other services for children and their families.

  The policies are monitored through annual reports and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education inspections of schools, including New Community Schools, which would include the planned programmes, procedures and provision of health education and the integration of services.

Education

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) educational psychologists were employed by each local authority in each of the past three years and (b) posts for educational psychologists are currently vacant in each authority.

Nicol Stephen: The information requested is provided in the following table.

  





1999 
  

2000 
  

2001 
  



Authority 
  

Staffing complement 
  

Unfilled vacancies 
  

Staffing complement 
  

Unfilled vacancies 
  

Staffing complement 
  

Unfilled vacancies 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

17.5 
  

2.4 
  

15.5 
  

2 
  

17.5 
  

0 
  



Aberdeen City 
  

11.75 
  

0.1 
  

11.8 
  

0.2 
  

11.5 
  

1 
  



Angus 
  

7 
  

0 
  

7.4 
  

0 
  

7 
  

0 
  



Argyll & Bute 
  

6 
  

0 
  

5.8 
  

0.6 
  

6 
  

0.4 
  



Clackmannan 
  

4.6 
  

0 
  

5.8 
  

0 
  

3.6 
  

1 
  



Dum & Galloway 
  

10 
  

2 
  

7 
  

3 
  

10 
  

0 
  



Dundee 
  

8.8 
  

0.5 
  

9.6 
  

0.6 
  

10.5 
  

0 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

8.5 
  

2.4 
  

6 
  

2.5 
  

7 
  

1.5 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

8 
  

1 
  

8 
  

0 
  

8 
  

0 
  



East Lothian 
  

7.15 
  

1.1 
  

5.95 
  

1.7 
  

7.05 
  

0.6 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

7 
  

1 
  

8.3 
  

0 
  

7.9 
  

0.4 
  



Edinburgh 
  

26 
  

0 
  

27.75 
  

0 
  

27.14 
  

2.6 
  



Falkirk 
  

10.3 
  

3.4 
  

10.5 
  

0 
  

10 
  

0.5 
  



Fife 
  

26.5 
  

2.5 
  

22.5 
  

4 
  

21.8 
  

4.7 
  



Glasgow 
  

52.5 
  

3.1 
  

52 
  

0.5 
  

51.5 
  

1 
  



Highlands 
  

15.7 
  

2 
  

13.8 
  

1.1 
  

12.9 
  

1 
  



Inverclyde 
  

6 
  

0 
  

6 
  

0 
  

5.5 
  

0.5 
  



Midlothian 
  

5.9 
  

0 
  

6.4 
  

0 
  

5.9 
  

0 
  



Moray 
  

6.9 
  

0.6 
  

7.3 
  

0 
  

7.3 
  

0 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

10.5 
  

1.1 
  

11.3 
  

0 
  

11.3 
  

0 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

23 
  

0 
  

23 
  

2 
  

23 
  

1 
  



Orkney 
  

2 
  

0 
  

2 
  

0 
  

2 
  

0 
  



Perth & Kinross 
  

7.5 
  

0 
  

7.5 
  

0.5 
  

7.5 
  

0 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

12 
  

0 
  

11 
  

1 
  

11 
  

2 
  



Scottish Borders 
  

5.6 
  

0 
  

5.6 
  

0 
  

5.6 
  

1 
  



Shetland Isles 
  

2 
  

0 
  

1 
  

2 
  

1 
  

2 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

8 
  

0.5 
  

8 
  

0 
  

6.5 
  

1.5 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

21 
  

2.9 
  

17.9 
  

3.1 
  

19.1 
  

0.9 
  



Stirling 
  

5.5 
  

0 
  

5.5 
  

0 
  

6.5 
  

0 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

7 
  

1 
  

7.7 
  

0 
  

7 
  

1 
  



West Lothian 
  

12.4 
  

0 
  

13 
  

0 
  

12.6 
  

0 
  



Western Isles 
  

3 
  

0 
  

3 
  

0 
  

3 
  

0 
  



Total 
  

365.6 
  

27.6 
  

353.9 
  

24.8 
  

354.19 
  

24.6 
  



  Sources:

  1. Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP) Staffing Surveys 31 August 1999 and 2000.

  2. National Review of Educational Psychology Services August 2001

Education

Kay Ullrich (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce the results of the information-gathering exercise on the provision of school swimming lessons, announced by the Deputy Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs during the Members’ Business debate on school swimming lessons on 24 May 2001.

Mr Jack McConnell: A swimming questionnaire is currently being piloted in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dumfries and Galloway. Comments on the structure and content will be used to produce a revised questionnaire which will be issued to all local authorities in November. I would expect to be able to announce the results early next year.

Education

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its announcement on 22 August 2001 of £12 million of funding for schools under the Grants for Improvements in School Education (Scotland) Regulations 1998, (a) what actual amount of funding was received by each school, (b) whether the school roll was the sole basis of distribution of the funds and (c) what the size was of each school’s roll for the purpose of the distribution.

Mr Jack McConnell: The announcement on 22 August was about the School Buildings Improvement Fund, which provides for capital grants to education authorities under the Grants for School Improvements (Scotland) Regulations 1997 for expenditure on school buildings. These resources are being distributed to authorities on the basis of the education element of the formula, which is at present used for the allocation of capital consents on non-housing programmes under section 94 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. Full details of the grant arrangements are set out in Scottish Executive Education Department Circular 6/2001, copies of which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre. The following table shows the distribution of the grant for financial year 2001-02.

  School Buildings Improvement Fund

  


Authorities 
  

£000 
  



Aberdeen City 
  

372 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

528 
  



Angus 
  

276 
  



Argyll & Bute 
  

260 
  



Clackmannanshire 
  

114 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

337 
  



Dundee City 
  

321 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

296 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

305 
  



East Lothian 
  

210 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

239 
  



Edinburgh, City of 
  

784 
  



Eilean Siar 
  

106 
  



Falkirk 
  

321 
  



Fife 
  

827 
  



Glasgow City 
  

1,251 
  



Highland 
  

541 
  



Inverclyde 
  

225 
  



Midlothian 
  

214 
  



Moray 
  

206 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

333 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

870 
  



Orkney Islands 
  

78 
  



Perth & Kinross 
  

298 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

414 
  



Scottish Borders 
  

255 
  



Shetland Islands 
  

86 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

276 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

795 
  



Stirling 
  

213 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

247 
  



West Lothian 
  

402 
  



Scotland Total 
  

12,000

Enterprise

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Airdrie and Shotts constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Coatbridge and Chryston constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the East Kilbride constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Falkirk East constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Falkirk West constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Hamilton North and Bellshill constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Hamilton South constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Edinburgh Central constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Edinburgh East and Musselburgh constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Edinburgh North and Leith constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Edinburgh Pentlands constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Edinburgh South constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Edinburgh West constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Linlithgow constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Livingston constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many job losses have been announced in the Midlothian constituency since May 1999, broken down by employing organisation.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The information requested is not held centrally.

Environment

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what environmental protection the 1,448 locations currently designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest will receive.

Rhona Brankin: All Sites of Special Scientific Interest receive legal protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and will continue to do so. Sites are also protected through contractual means such as management agreements between land managers and Scottish Natural Heritage. The Scottish Executive Policy Statement The Nature of Scotland proposes measures to improve the protection of Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Food Safety

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many spot checks have been carried out on imported beef this year; (b) how many cases of these revealed carcasses which still contained spinal chord, and (c) from which countries was the meat in these cases imported.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Food Standards Agency advises that the Meat Hygiene Service no longer relies on spot checks of consignments of imported carcass beef. In light of SRM (portions of spinal cord) failures in consignments of beef from several other EU member states the MHS checks all consignments of imported carcass beef arriving at licensed cutting premises.

  Since the beginning of this year there have been 20 cases where consignments of carcass beef imported into the UK from other EU member states have been found with SRM attached. The cases involved different meat plants from Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Republic of Ireland.

Food Safety

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken against meat importers, and the country of origin, of meat which the Meat Hygiene Service has identified as being unfit for human consumption.

Malcolm Chisholm: Where consignments of carcass beef imported into the UK from other EU member states have been found with SRM (portions of spinal cord) attached, the Food Standards Agency has taken up the matter vigorously, in each case, with the authorities of the member state concerned, and reported the discovery to the European Commission. It is the responsibility of the relevant national authorities to ensure that meat plants in their territory comply with the EU rules. Seven of the plants have had their operating licences suspended as a result.

  Detail of the subsequent action taken in a number of the cases are set out in the following table:

  Consignments of Imported Carcass Beef Found to Contain SRM

  


Date of Discovery 
  

Place of Discovery 
  

Finding 
  

Exporting Plant and Action Taken 
  



1) 17 January 2001 
  

ABP, Newry, County Down 
  

Spinal cord in two out of a consignment of 221 forequarters. 
  

Loblein Teterower Fleisch GmbH Landkreis Gustrow, Germany 
  



2) 17 January 2001 
  

ABP, Newry, County Down 
  

Spinal cord in one out of a consignment of 192 forequarters. 
  

Westfleische Lubbecke, Germany 
  



3) 29 January 2001 
  

Anglo Dutch Meats, Eastbourne, Sussex 
  

Spinal cord in one out of a consignment of 216 hindquarters. 
  

Oldenburg, Germany 
  



4) one February 2001 
  

Anglo Dutch Meats, Eastbourne, Sussex 
  

Spinal cord in one out of a consignment of 217 hindquarters. 
  

Versand Heinz Gausepohl Bakum, Germany 
  



5) two February 2001 
  

Northern Ireland 
  

Remnants of spinal cord in two out of a consignment of 
  230 fore and hind quarters. 
  

Liffey Meats, Ballyjamesduff, Co.Cavan, Republic of Ireland
Operation of plant suspended indefinitely on 8 February. 
  



6) one March 2001 
  

Anglo Dutch Meats, Eastbourne, Sussex 
  

Several pieces of spinal cord in five out of a consignment 
  of 216 fore and hindquarters. 
  

Fleischverkaufsstelle Kalkar, Germany
Operation of plant suspended on 8 March. 
  



7) one March 2001 
  

Anglo Dutch Meats, Eastbourne, Sussex 
  

Several pieces of spinal cord in seven out of a consignment 
  of 188 quarters. 
  

Brada’s Vleeschbedrijf BV, Leevwarden, Netherlands
Operation of plant suspended six – 9 March. 
  



8) two March 2001 
  

Anglo Dutch Meats, Eastbourne, Sussex 
  

Several pieces of spinal cord in four forequarters out 
  of a consignment of 222 hind and forequarters. 
  

Mueller Fleisch GmbH, Birkenfeld, Germany
Operation of plant suspended on 8 March. 
  



9) five March 2001 
  

Blackpool Abattoir, Blackpool, Lancs. 
  

8cm piece of spinal cord in one forequarter out of a consignment 
  of 53 whole carcases 
  

Brada’s Vleeschbedrijf BV, Leevwarden, Netherlands
Operation of plant suspended six - 9 March 
  



10) seven March 2001 
  

Matheson Jess Ltd. Dundee, Scotland 
  

Spinal cord in two forequarters out of a consignment of 
  79 heifer carcases. 
  

Giresa Palencia
Spain 
  



11) 9 March 2001 
  

Great Harwood Food Products, Blackburn 
  

Spinal cord in two out of a consignment of 268 forequarters 
  

Fribin S.A.T. 
Binepar,
Spain 
  



12) 20 March 2001 
  

Great Harwood Food Products, Blackburn 
  

Unexposed spinal cord in cervical vertebral canal in 41 
  out of a consignment of 204 forequarters. 
  

Industria Carni SNC
Carema (Torino)
Italy
Operation of plant suspended 22 – 29 March. 
  



 13) 21 March 2001 
  

Dungannon Meats, Larne, N.Ireland 
  

Spinal cord found in one forequarter out of a consignment 
  of 220 quarters. 
  

Kildare Chilling, Kildare, Republic of Ireland. 
  



 
14) 30 March 2001 
  

Anglo Dutch Meats, Eastbourne, Sussex 
  

Spinal cord found in two forequarters out of a consignment 
  of 203. 
  

Fleischzentrum Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Slaughter of cattle temporarily prohibited at plant on 
  30 March. 
  



15) 30 April 2001 
  

St, Merryn Meats (Victoria), Cornwall 
  

Spinal cord found in two forequarters out of a consignment 
  of 130. 
  

Danish Crown, The Skive, Barupsgade 6, 7800 Skive, Denmark
Plant ordered to re-inspect all cuts of meat for spinal 
  cord. Plant to introduce own checks and demonstrate their 
  efficiency to Danish Food & Veterinary Administration. 
  



25 June 2001


Anglo Dutch Meats, Eastbourne, Sussex 


Spinal cord found in two forequarters out of a consignment 
  of 230.


Gausepohl Fleisch GmbH, Bakum
Operation of plant suspended from 26 June to two July, 
  until strict compliance with the controls can be ensured. 
  



2 August 2001 
  

Anglo Dutch Meats, Eastbourne, Sussex 
  

Spinal cord found in one forequarter out of a consignment 
  of 240. 
  

Fair Oak Foods, Clonmel, Republic of Ireland.
Operation of slaughtering activities suspended on 3 August. 
  



7 August 2001 
  

Anglo Dutch Meats, Eastbourne, Sussex 
  

Spinal cord found in one quarter out of a consignment of 
  200. 
  

Domburg Vlees bv, Bodegraven, The Netherlands
Written warning issued to the company. Further breach of 
  SRM regulations will lead to withdrawal of the inspection 
  service and closure of the operations until full compliance 
  can be guaranteed. 
  



21 August 2001 
  

Anglo Dutch Meats, Eastbourne, Sussex 
  

Spinal cord found in four quarters out of a consignment 
  of 240. 
  

Exportslachterij J Gosschalk en Zn BV, Oenerweg, Epe, The 
  Netherlands
Written warning issued to the company. Further breach of 
  SRM regulations will lead to withdrawal of the inspection 
  service and closure of the operations until full compliance 
  can be guaranteed. 
  



24 August 2001 
  

Cumberland Meat Packers Ltd, Coventry 
  

Spinal cord found in one quarter out of a consignment of 
  200. 
  

Kroot Vlees BV, of Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Awaiting report from the Dutch CVO.

Food Safety

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether all processed food will be labelled by country of origin.

Malcolm Chisholm: On matters of food safety and standards, the Scottish Executive is advised by the Food Standards Agency. Currently, the Food Labelling Regulations (1996) require particulars of the place of origin or provenance of a food to be shown, as failure to give such information might mislead the purchaser to a material degree as to the true origin or provenance of the food. The agency is committed to pressing for changes in EU rules to widen the requirement for origin labelling, particularly of processed foods.

  At present, the agency is in the process of revising voluntary guidance notes on place of origin which are being prepared for public consultation. The aim is to make sure the guidance addresses the issues which cause consumers the most concern.

Food Safety

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of imported meat is inspected.

Malcolm Chisholm: All imported meat and meat products are subject to inspection at Border Inspection Posts. These inspections consist of documentary checks on all consignments and additional physical checks on 20% of all consignments.

  Where beef is imported as carcasses into a licensed meat plant it will undergo a full physical check by Meat Hygiene Service inspectors.

Food Safety

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive why every carcass leaving an abattoir in the UK is inspected in the UK yet every imported carcass is not.

Malcolm Chisholm: Meat produced within the European Union must be produced to the standards required by the relevant EU laws. These are enforced by the individual member state, and require that carcasses are properly inspected at the slaughterhouse whether in the UK or another member state.

  In light of failures to properly remove specified risk material in consignments of beef imported from several EU member states, and following instruction from the Food Standards Agency, checks on carcass beef imports have been increased to 100%.

  Local authorities have also been advised to step up checks on bone-in-beef and sheep meat and the health marking of all meat in the premises they supervise.

  Meat imported from non-EU states is controlled by EU rules, which require that the meat must have been produced to standards at least equivalent to those required by the EU meat hygiene Directives. Again, carcasses must be inspected at the slaughterhouse of production.

Football

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why the application by the Scottish Football Association to designate Hampden Park on trunk road signs has been refused.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has not received a formal application from the Scottish Football Association (SFA) for signing for Hampden Park from the trunk road network.

  Following a preliminary enquiry, the SFA was advised on the procedure to follow in submitting their signing application for consideration in accordance with the Trunk Road and Motorway Tourist Signposting Policy.

Football

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive in the event of either no bid being submitted for the European Football Championship in 2008 or a bid being submitted but not being successful, what funding or support will be made available for (a) schools football, (b) football development and (c) full-size indoor training facilities.

Allan Wilson: Regardless of whether a bid is made to host the European Football Championship in 2008, we will continue to support the development of football at all levels including the provision of facilities.

  Since 1995, over £34 million of Lottery Sports Fund and Exchequer monies has been invested in football in Scotland. Sportscotland has allocated £7.6 million per annum to the schools/community strand of the sports facilities programme. Other programmes operated by sportscotland, including the Youth Sport, TOP and School Sports Co-ordinator programmes, also assist the development of football. Football is also a core sport in the Scottish Institute of Sport.

  There are questions about the financial viability of developing full-size indoor training facilities. However, the Scottish Football Academy strand of the Lottery Sports Fund has been allocated £6 million over three years to provide 60m x 40m indoor structures as an integral part of the individual training facilities eligible for support. The maximum award level has recently been increased to £1 million per project.

Football

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what support it plans to give to Scottish Football Partnership Ltd.

Allan Wilson: I hope to make an announcement about the Scottish Football Partnership Ltd in the near future.

Football

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide financial support to the Scottish Football Association or any other organisation for the development of a sports campus at Hampden Park.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive does not directly operate a grants programme for the development of sports facilities. Any proposals for the development of facilities adjacent to the National Stadium, the future of which was secured by the Scottish Executive, should be discussed with the appropriate bodies at local level in the first instance.

Genetically Modified Crops

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the resistance to herbicide of genetically modified crops can spread to other plant life.

Ross Finnie: The genetically modified herbicide tolerant crops currently grown in Scotland are tolerant to only one specific herbicide. Cross-pollination with a related, sexually compatible species could produce a hybrid with the same tolerance. Separation distances around GM trials are designed to minimise this possibility although the expert advisory body, ACRE, is satisfied that such hybridisation does not pose a safety threat to the environment. Control of these plants is possible through the use of any method other than the application of the herbicide to which they are tolerant.

Genetically Modified Crops

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the herbicide used on the trial crop at Munlochy in the Black Isle has been tested and, if so, what the results were.

Ross Finnie: Yes. A detailed summary of the tests considered by the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) when the herbicide, Glufosinate-ammonium, was first evaluated for safety and effectiveness in commercial use has been published. The tests led the ACP to recommend that the use of the pesticide, subject to the conditions imposed on its approval, posed no unacceptable risk to humans, wildlife, or the environment. These recommendations were agreed by ministers, and approvals for glufosinate ammonium-based pesticides were granted.

  A copy of Evaluation Document 33 Evaluation on HOE 39866 (Glufosinate-ammonium), published, September 1990 will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 17170).

Genetically Modified Crops

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what effect the weed killer glufosinate ammonium has on (a) genetically modified crops, (b) water sources and supplies, (c) other affected farm products and (d) farmland wildlife.

Ross Finnie: Genetically modified crops have been bred to be resistant to Glufosinate-ammonium so that, when herbicides containing the compound are applied to them, they are not killed. Other crops, whether they are conventionally bred, or contain a genetic modification that does not confer resistance to the herbicide, will be killed by it if it is applied in sufficient quantity. A detailed summary of the data on the compound that were considered when approval for its use on non-GM crops was initially sought, including details of its effects on: water sources and supplies (b); other affected farm products (c); and farmland wildlife (d) is available in the published evaluation document on the compound.

  A copy of Evaluation Document 33 Evaluation on HOE 39866 (Glufosinate-ammonium), published September 1990, will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 17170).

Genetically Modified Food

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether food labels must state, where appropriate, that a product contains genetically modified ingredients.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Food Standards Agency has advised me that current legislation requires all foods, or food ingredients, containing approved genetically modified (GM) soya, maize, additives or flavourings to be labelled. The rules extend to food supplied to mass caterers. Additionally, restaurants, cafes, bakers and delicatessens etc must ensure either through labels, notices or access to oral advice, that the final consumer can obtain information about any GM ingredients in the food on sale.

Genetically Modified Organisms

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the consumption of genetically modified organisms can affect resistance to certain antibiotics.

Malcolm Chisholm: I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that there is no evidence to suggest that antibiotic resistance has occurred as a result of the consumption of genetically modified foods.

Health

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive who the members are of the review group that has been set up to consider the operation and possible reform of the commitment payments scheme instituted by the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body.

Susan Deacon: No review group has been set up to look specifically at this area. The review of the commitment payment scheme in Scotland is being taken forward as part of the UK negotiations on the consultants’ contract currently underway between the UK Health Departments and the British Medical Association (BMA). The Scottish Executive Health Department is fully involved in the UK negotiations.

  In order to ensure that any changes to the scheme are appropriate to Scottish needs, a Scottish consultation document Rewarding Commitment and Excellence in the NHS (Scotland) was published in April this year by the Scottish Executive Health Department. Responses were received from a range of sources, including NHS Trusts, Royal Colleges/Universities, the BMA, health boards and patients’ representatives, and these are currently being considered by the department.

Health

Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail all targets within the NHS that have been set since 1997 including those for waiting lists, waiting times and reducing the incidence of heart disease, cancer, teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and strokes.

Susan Deacon: The key national performance targets for NHSScotland are set out in Programmes for Government , Towards a Healthier Scotland , Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change and Cancer in Scotland: Action for change , all of which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Health

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin & Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to speed treatment and shorten waiting times in the NHS particularly in the areas of heart disease, cancer and mental health.

Susan Deacon: An extensive range of actions is under way or planned in the key priorities of cancer, heart disease and mental health which will assist in reducing waiting at every stage of the patient's journey through the NHS.

  Cancer in Scotland: Action for change, which was published in early July together with a significant new investment of £40 million dedicated to improving cancer care, set out a comprehensive range of measures designed to provide swifter, better diagnosis, treatment and care. The report is available on the Scottish Health On the Web (SHOW) website - www.show.scot.nhs.uk

  The CHD/Stroke Task Force Report, which was issued for consultation on 11 September, includes a number of recommendations which will assist further in ensuring the provision of speedy, high quality diagnosis and treatment across Scotland. This report is also available on SHOW.

  The Executive is tackling access and improvement issues in mental health through record investment. Last year, £520 million was invested in services both in hospital and in the community, a 9% increase on the previous year. This investment is targeted on providing better, more responsive mental health care.

Health

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many in-patients there are in NHSiS hospitals currently and how many there were at the same point in (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999 and (d) 2000.

Susan Deacon: The available information on the average number of inpatients occupying a bed in NHS hospitals is shown:

  Three months to:

  


30 June 1997 
  

30,080 
  



30 June 1998 
  

28,734 
  



30 June 1999 
  

27,109 
  



30 June 2000 
  

26,214 
  



30 June 2001 
  

25,218 
  



  Reduction reflects transfers from hospital into the community and changing patterns of care in acute hospitals with more patients treated as day cases. Over the same period the total number of patients receiving treatment as inpatients or day cases in acute specialities increased from 1,114,449 year ending 31 March 1997 to 1,179,039 (provisional) year ending 31 March 2001 (an increase of 5.8%).

Health

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will include a specific nursing voice on the new unified NHS boards in line with the provision of the Munich Declaration on nurses and midwives which urges that relevant authorities ensure that there is a nursing and midwifery contribution to the decision-making process at all levels of policy development and implementation.

Susan Deacon: Our policy is to ensure that all staff have the opportunity to contribute appropriately to the decision-making process in NHSScotland, without favouring one profession over another.

  Specifically, all 15 new NHS Boards include – as a full member – the Staff Side Chair of the Area Partnership Forum, to further reinforce the importance of partnership working.

  Additionally, each NHS Board is creating an Area Clinical Forum, which will bring together the chairs of all the local professional advisory committees, including the Nursing & Midwifery Committee. The Chair of the forum has a full seat on the NHS Board.

  Responsibility and accountability for direct patient care is still led at NHS Trust level. The trust board has been replaced by a trust management team, which must – by law – include a registered nurse or midwife as an Executive Director.

  On a national level, we plan to strengthen the role of nurses and midwives in policy development by establishing a new Nursing and Midwifery Forum, details of which will be discussed with the main professional, academic and staff representative bodies.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received information about any inquiry by the Office of Fair Trading into the provision of pharmacy services in Scotland and, if so, what explanation it has received for any such inquiry

Susan Deacon: We are aware of the announcement made by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) on 3 October that it will be undertaking a number of inquiries to explore how well markets are working for their customers.

  The OFT stated that the pharmacy study will examine the market for retail pharmacy services and, in particular, whether consumers are best served by the system that regulates where pharmacies can open.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether white noise generators are available to patients to alleviate tinnitus.

Susan Deacon: White noise generators and other tinnitus masking devices are available to patients from NHSScotland.

Hospitals

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has held any discussions with, or corresponded with, Lanarkshire Health Board or Lanarkshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in relation to adverse press reports about the level of service provision and accommodation at Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride.

Susan Deacon: Yes. I received a full report from the Chief Executive of Lanarkshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust at the time the said articles first appeared, and my officials continue to closely monitor the position and liaise with the trust.

  Where there are matters that still require attention, the trust is urgently addressing them with its contractors. In many cases, however, the press articles have been exaggerated, inaccurate or refer to matters that were resolved by the trust several weeks before they were reported in the press. The people in Lanarkshire are now benefiting from an excellent new NHS hospital at Hairmyres that will serve them well into the 21st century.

Housing

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what alternative course of action it plans to take should Glasgow City Council housing tenants vote against housing stock transfer

Jackie Baillie: Should tenants in Glasgow decide that they do not wish to transfer their housing into community ownership, the housing will remain in the ownership of Glasgow City Council.

Housing

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken to ensure that Glasgow City Council housing tenants receive independent advice concerning the council’s proposed housing stock transfer to the Glasgow Housing Association.

Ms Margaret Curran: In 2000-01, £0.31 million of New Housing Partnership resources was made available for the provision of independent advice to tenants. A further £0.972 million has been made available to Glasgow City Council in 2001-02.

Information Technology

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take on its broadband rollout strategy following the recent visit to Finland by the First Minister and the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The visit to Finland met a number of purposes, including informing our approach to broadband. On the latter, Finnish ministers confirmed the importance they place on ensuring that teachers are equipped to make best use of information and communication technologies. This echoes our own policies which exist alongside those stimulating the supply of broadband. We also heard, through a presentation on the Helsinki Virtual Village, of the potential of broadband wireless technologies for facilitating interaction within a neighbourhood community.

Information Technology

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14686 by Nicol Stephen on 4 May 2001, what progress has been made in the discussions about how the e-Learning Foundation’s initiative on the provision of computer equipment for young people might apply in Scotland.

Nicol Stephen: The Executive remains very interested in models of private sector involvement to improve investment in and provision of e-learning. We are continuing to explore with the foundation how an extension of its activities into Scotland might bring about a step-change in access to e-learning.

Justice

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many existing adult mandatory life prisoners will be affected by the Convention Rights (Compliance) (Scotland) Act 2001 and (b) when hearings under the Act in respect of such prisoners will be completed.

Mr Jim Wallace: Four hundred and sixty-three existing adult mandatory life prisoners are affected by the transitional provisions of the Convention Rights (Compliance) (Scotland) Act 2001, in as much as they will require to have a punishment part set at a hearing before the High Court of Justiciary. In addition, there are 24 such prisoners, who have the right under the Act, to waive their entitlement to a hearing, in which case their punishment parts will be deemed to have been fixed by other methods set out in the Act. The Scottish ministers are required to refer the cases of those affected to the High Court of Justiciary but arrangements for the hearings are the responsibility of the court. At this time the court is unable accurately to forecast when the hearings will be completed.

Livestock

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans exist to reduce the length of journeys for animals being transported for fattening and slaughter.

Ross Finnie: The Welfare of Animals (Transport) Order 1997 sets out the general provision for the welfare of animals in transit. There are no plans to review it at present.

Livestock

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans exist to maintain the ban on export of live farm animals from Scotland and to replace such exports with meat and carcass exports.

Ross Finnie: There are no plans to maintain the ban on exports of live farm animals from Scotland. The European Court of Justice has confirmed that a unilateral ban on live exports would be illegal.

Local Government

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average salary of a local authority employee was in each of the past five years (a) in Scotland as whole and (b) in each local authority.

Peter Peacock: The information requested is not held centrally.

Mental Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Lothian Health Board regarding any decision by the board to limit the atypical drugs which GPs may prescribe to schizophrenia sufferers.

Susan Deacon: The Executive has had no discussions with Lothian Health Board about limiting the atypical antipsychotic drugs which GPs may prescribe to their patients with schizophrenia.

  The use of these drugs depends on the clinical judgement of the clinicians concerned, taking into account advice and evidence about their use.

Ministerial Costs

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the route by which the First Minister and the Minister for Lifelong Learning recently travelled to Helsinki.

Henry McLeish: The Minister for Lifelong Learning and I left Edinburgh to fly to Helsinki via Brussels, and returned to Edinburgh via Copenhagen.

Ministerial Costs

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive who accompanied the First Minister and the Minister for Lifelong Learning on their recent visit to Finland; whether it will give a detailed breakdown of the costs of the trip and from which expenditure heads were these costs met.

Henry McLeish: The information is as follows:

  


First Minister 
  

Flight 
  

£746.20 
  



Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning 
  

Flight 
  

£746.20 
  



Subsistence 
  

£21.95 
  



Principal Private Secretary to the First Minister 
  

Flight 
  

£746.20 
  



Senior Press Officer 
  

Flight 
  

£746.20 
  



Head of Digital Scotland Unit 
  

Flight 
  

£724.86 
  



Subsistence 
  

£76.00 
  



Policy Unit Adviser on Broadband 
  

Flight 
  

£746.20 
  



Subsistence 
  

£75.90 
  



Consultant on Broadband 
  

Flight 
  

£724.86 
  



Subsistence 
  

£133.50 
  



  The costs were met from the relevant ministerial and travel and subsistence costs.

Multiple Sclerosis

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will continue the policy of prescribing beta interferon through the NHS to those people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis who it is considered could benefit from the drug.

Susan Deacon: I have asked the Health Technology Board for Scotland to provide NHSScotland with a Scottish Comment on the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance on beta interferon and glatiramer when this is available. As with all medicines, the decision whether or not to prescribe beta interferon for an individual patient depends on the clinical judgement of the specialist concerned, in consultation with the patient. The specialist should take into account the risks and benefits of that treatment as indicated in advice provided by their local Area Drug and Therapeutic Committee.

Nursery Education

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it will make available to local authorities to allow them to meet any additional costs arising out of any National Joint Committee determinations on the pay and conditions for nursery nurses.

Nicol Stephen: Provision towards general local authority pay and price inflation was included within the total local government settlement allocations for the three years 2001-02 to 2003-04, which were announced in December 2000. We would expect local authorities to meet from their overall budgets any net costs arising from the current evaluation of local government posts (including nursery nurse posts) and subsequent setting of rates of pay.

Organophosphates

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has taken any action to ban the use of organophosphates on farms.

Ross Finnie: Veterinary medicines remain the responsibility of the Westminster Parliament. The marketing authorisations for organophosphate (OP) sheep dips has been suspended, pending satisfactory completion of plans being developed by marketing authorisation holders for closed systems for transferring OP dip concentrate from its container into the dip bath.

Police

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding (a) was received by each police force in each of the past three years, (b) is projected in each force for each of the next two years expressed per head of population in each police force area and (c) what the average funding was per head of population nationally.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested is shown in the following table.

  Police Funding Per Head of Population

  

 

1999-2000 
  

2000-01 
  

2001-02 
  



Central 
  

£118.56 
  

£120.39 
  

£127.91 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

£141.77 
  

£146.21 
  

£155.35 
  



Fife 
  

£111.56 
  

£118.87 
  

£125.60 
  



Grampian 
  

£116.29 
  

£120.24 
  

£130.82 
  



Lothian & Borders 
  

£146.33 
  

£150.20 
  

£158.22 
  



Northern 
  

£133.54 
  

£140.49 
  

£153.22 
  



Strathclyde 
  

£149.55 
  

£155.61 
  

£163.89 
  



Tayside 
  

£141.68 
  

£149.41 
  

£159.40 
  



Scotland 
  

£139.62 
  

£145.06 
  

£153.78 
  



  The figures are based on Grant Aided Expenditure, which is the maximum level of expenditure supported by police grant. In 2002-03 and 2003-04 the average funding per head of population will be £160.74 and £165.17. Decisions have yet to be made on the allocations to individual forces.

Police

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) police officers and (b) civillian staff are currently employed by each police force, expressed per head of population in each police force area.

Mr Jim Wallace: The number of police officers and civilians in each force at 30 September 2001, expressed per 1,000 population is shown in the following table.

  



Force 
  

Estimated population 
  

No. of police officers 
  

No. per 1,000 population 
  

No. of support staff 
  

No. per 1,000 population 
  



Central 
  

278,000 
  

719 
  

2.58 
  

273 
  

0.98 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

145,800 
  

474 
  

3.25 
  

269 
  

1.84 
  



Fife 
  

350,400 
  

883 
  

2.51 
  

311 
  

0.88 
  



Grampian 
  

523,400 
  

1,274 
  

2.43 
  

527 
  

1.00 
  



Lothian & Borders 
  

890,500 
  

2,646 
  

2.97 
  

1,033 
  

1.16 
  



Northern 
  

277,700 
  

679 
  

2.97 
  

351 
  

1.26 
  



Strathclyde 
  

2,263,300 
  

7,298 
  

3.22 
  

2,132 
  

0.94 
  



Tayside 
  

385,500 
  

1,164 
  

3.01 
  

504 
  

1.30 
  



Scotland 
  

5,114,600 
  

15,137 
  

2.95 
  

5,400 
  

1.05 
  



  Notes:

  Estimated population at 30 June 2000.

  Number of police officer and support staff at 30 September 2001.

Police

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) police vehicles there are and (b) manned police stations there are per square mile, in each police force area.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested is not held centrally.

Police

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of any grants awarded to each police force for the last year in addition to core funding.

Mr Jim Wallace: Grants worth over £10 million have been, or will shortly be, made available to forces in the current financial year, to meet special pressures which have arisen during the course of the year. These are in addition to grant aided expenditure. Figures, where a breakdown is available, are given in the table (figures in £000).

  


Force 
  

Recruitment 
  

DNA Testing 
  



Central 
  

369 
  

63 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

233 
  

40 
  



Fife 
  

435 
  

74 
  



Grampian 
  

676 
  

116 
  



Lothian & Borders 
  

1,442 
  

246 
  



Northern 
  

423 
  

72 
  



Strathclyde 
  

3,710 
  

634 
  



Tayside 
  

612 
  

105 
  



Total 
  

7,900 
  

1,350 
  



  In addition, £117,000 has been allocated to Lothian & Borders Police to support its Parliamentary Policing Unit; and discussions are on-going with forces about the allocation of £1.0 million to support implementation of the National Intelligence Model and £0.1 million for analysis of drug driving samples. Some further sums were allocated across individual forces at various times during the year in connection with expenditure on a range of security measures.

Police

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the inquiry by Fife Constabulary on Strathclyde Police Force’s handling of the demonstration at Govanhill Pool on 7 August 2001 will be concluded.

Mr Jim Wallace: The investigation Fife Constabulary is conducting on behalf of the Regional Procurator Fiscal in Glasgow, into the conduct of a number of Strathclyde Police officers involved in policing the demonstrations, is expected to conclude in mid-December 2001. This timescale is, however, provisional in view of the large number of witnesses, both protestors and police officers, that require to be interviewed.

Rape

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) rapes and (b) attempted rapes have been reported to police in the city of Edinburgh in each year since 1997 and how many convictions were secured following such reports.

Mr Jim Wallace: Information in the format requested is not held centrally. The available information, on crimes of rape and assault with intent to rape which are recorded by the police, and on persons with a charge proved in court where the main offence was rape or assault with intent to rape, is given in the table.

  Rapes and assaults with intent to rape recorded by Lothian & Borders Police

  Crimes recorded and persons with a charge proved in court, 1997-20001

  


Year and Crime 
  

Number of offences recorded by the police 
  in: 
  

Number of persons with a charge proved2




City of Edinburgh Council area 
  

Lothian & Borders Police Force area 
  
 



1997 
  



Rape 
  

95 
  

144 
  

6 
  



Assault with intent to rape 
  

28 
  

41 
  

3 
  



Total 
  

123 
  

185 
  

9 
  



1998 
  



Rape 
  

114 
  

151 
  

6 
  



Assault with intent to rape 
  

25 
  

36 
  

1 
  



Total 
  

139 
  

187 
  

7 
  



1999 
  



Rape 
  

60 
  

111 
  

8 
  



Assault with intent to rape 
  

18 
  

27 
  

4 
  



Total 
  

78 
  

138 
  

12 
  



2000 
  



Rape 
  

76 
  

119 
  

N/A 
  



Assault with intent to rape 
  

22 
  

31 
  

N/A 
  



Total 
  

98 
  

150 
  

N/A 
  



  N/A data not yet available.

  Notes:

  1. The statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable as a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim, or a crime may be recorded in one year and proceedings taken in a subsequent year.

  2. Where rape or assault with intent to rape was the main offence. Figures relate to all cases originating from Lothian & Borders Police; no separate breakdown is available for cases originating from City of Edinburgh.

Road Accidents

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15671 by Sarah Boyack on 19 June 2001, whether the statement that the police would initiate a road closure means that it is the police who are responsible for taking the decision to close a section of motorway or trunk road due to a road traffic accident and, if not, who is responsible.

Sarah Boyack: The police, who are normally first at the scene of a road traffic accident, have the power to close a section of motorway or trunk road if they deem there to be a hazard to other road users. They also have a duty to do so in certain circumstances to protect life and property.

Roads

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has received regarding upgrading (a) the A70 and (b) the A71 to trunk road status.

Sarah Boyack: The Executive has received correspondence calling for improvements to both the A70 and A71 but no explicit demands for upgrading to trunk roads status.

Roads

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it would require in order to decide to change the status of the A70 or A71 to a trunk road.

Sarah Boyack: Any extension to the trunk road network would require Scottish ministers to conclude that a route should be added to the national system, after taking into consideration the statutory requirements set out in section 5 (2) of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984.

Roads

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why the absence of slip roads to East Linton on the proposed A1 expressway between Haddington and Dunbar results in greater national economic benefit than the provision of slip roads as outlined in the report prepared by Roger Tym and Partners, A1 Haddington – Dunbar Expressway Economic Assessment of Passing Trade at East Linton .

Sarah Boyack: The net benefits of the slip roads measured as time and accident savings and the reduction in vehicle operating costs are less than the cost of building and maintaining the slip roads.

Scottish Executive Departments

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase the proportion of its vehicles capable of running on liquefied petroleum gas.

Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive’s fleet of dual fuelled vehicles will increase to 69% of the total fleet by March 2002.

Scottish Executive Departments

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of leased vehicles used by its departments and agencies for which it is responsible are capable of running on liquefied petroleum gas.

Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive does not lease any of its vehicles. The Scottish Prison Service Agency currently leases 90 vehicles. None of these vehicles are capable of running on liquefied petroleum gas.

Scottish Executive Departments

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has assessed (a) cost savings to date and (b) potential future cost savings relating to the purchase, conversion or leasing of vehicles by departments or agencies for which it is responsible that are fuelled by liquefied petroleum gas.

Angus MacKay: The business case for the purchase of dual fuelled vehicles includes an assessment of likely costs and savings. It is estimated that a saving between some £190 and £480 will be realised in the lifetime of each vehicle. This takes into account the cost of conversion and the savings on fuel.

Scottish Executive Procurement

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it currently uses Consignia plc for its mail collection and delivery service in Edinburgh and what plans it has to consider using an alternative provider for this service.

Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive uses a number of mail service providers, including Consignia plc, for the collection and delivery of mail within Edinburgh. The preferred method used is based on the service requirements and the most cost-effective method for that service.

  The Scottish Executive continually monitors the market to ensure that the best value for money is achieved. There are no current plans to consider using an alternative provider for the services that Consignia plc currently supply.

Scottish Executive Transport

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of its vehicles are fuelled by liquefied petroleum gas.

Angus MacKay: Fifty-one per cent of the Scottish Executive’s fleet of vehicles are currently dual fuelled and will run on either liquefied petroleum gas or unleaded petrol.

Special Educational Needs

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will issue guidelines to local authorities on minimum training requirement guidelines for staff recruited to provide support services to school-age children with special needs.

Nicol Stephen: There are no plans to issue such guidelines. The Special Educational Needs (SEN) Manual of Good Practice emphasises the need for appropriate training for all staff.

  All teachers should, as part of their Initial Teacher Education (ITE), receive some grounding in special educational needs. The Ministerial Continuous Professional Development committee is looking at Continuous Professional Development requirements for all teachers (but not support staff). An Education Inclusion sub-group of this committee is considering training requirements of teachers working with pupils with SENs. Teachers specialist qualifications are also being considered as part of the review of The Schools Scotland Code.

  In addition, the Scottish Executive provides over £5 million annually for in-service training of teachers and other staff working with children who have special educational needs.

Special Educational Needs

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to education authorities on the duties and responsibilities of teaching staff in relation to the supervision or support of children with special needs during non-teaching periods of the school day.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Executive has not issued guidance on this issue.

  Under the implementation agreement, A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century, teachers are not expected to be routinely involved in the direct and regular supervision and support of pupils during non-teaching periods. These duties are usually undertaken by a range of support staff, including classroom assistants and special needs auxiliaries.

  However, the report of the Discipline Task Group makes it clear that schools should ensure shared responsibility between staff for supervision of pupils during non-teaching times of the day.

Special Educational Needs

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to education authorities on the advance notice and information given to teachers about children joining their classes who have autistic spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or dyspraxia.

Nicol Stephen: The Executive has not issued guidance specifically on this issue. However, the Manual of Good Practice  for special educational needs,   issued to all schools in 1999, stresses the need for properly planned and supported transitions of pupils with special educational needs from one school or class to another and this includes providing information to teachers and giving advance warning.

Special Educational Needs

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, what plans it has to legislate to introduce a duty on education authorities to prepare and implement an accessibility strategy for disabled pupils in line with the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 and, if it has no plans to legislate, how will it ensure that disabled pupils in Scotland are not disadvantaged in terms of access to schools, school facilities and the curriculum compared to children in England and Wales.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive published, on 9 October 2001, a consultation paper on the draft Education (Disability Strategies & Pupils' Records) Bill. This Bill will bring forward, in Scotland, a similar duty to that in sections 14 and 15 of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001. Education authorities and independent and grant-aided schools will be required to prepare accessibility strategies to progressively improve access for pupils with disabilities to the school environment, the curriculum and school information.

  A copy of the draft Bill is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 16741) or on the Scottish Executive website (www.scotland.gov.uk) under consultations.

Student Loans

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8121 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 27 September 2001, how many of the court actions raised against graduates to recover student loans were (a) sold in (i) 1997-98 and (ii) 1998-99 and (b) retained by the Student Loans Company.

Ms Wendy Alexander: I am advised by the Student Loans Ltd Company that the breakdown requested is as follows:

  


Financial Year 
  

Debt Owner 
  

Total Number of Actions Raised 
  

Decrees Obtained 
  



1998-99 
  

Student Loans Company Ltd 
  

878 
  

732 
  



First National Tricity Finance 
  

- 
  

- 
  



Honours Trustee Ltd 
  

- 
  

- 
  



1999-2000 
  

Student Loans Company Ltd 
  

1,257 
  

880 
  



First National Tricity Finance 
  

421 
  

306 
  



Honours Trustee Ltd 
  

33 
  

20 
  



2000-01 
  

Student Loans Company Ltd 
  

1,142 
  

774 
  



First National Tricity Finance 
  

404 
  

275 
  



Honours Trustee Ltd 
  

288 
  

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Student Loans

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-18120 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 27 September 2001, whether the operational procedures adopted by the Student Loans Company Ltd in respect of the collection of loan debt sold to Finance for Higher Education Ltd and Honours Trustee Ltd are identical to those for the debt retained by the Student Loans Company Ltd and, if not, in what way do they differ.

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-18121 by Ms Wendy Alexander on the 27 September 2001, whether it will give a breakdown of the results of the court actions raised against graduates to recover student loans in (a) 1998-99, (b) 1999-2000 and (c) 2000-01.

Ms Wendy Alexander: I am advised by the Student Loans Company Ltd that there is no difference between the collections procedures which are applied to loans under the sold debt portfolios and those applied to the retained loans. Although occasional additional work has been carried out by the Student Loans Company Ltd on behalf of the owners of the sold portfolios, the procedures for actioning all accounts remain the same.

Telecommunications

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken following the breakdown of several 999 phone lines in the Highlands and Islands area.

Mr Jim Wallace: BT is responsible for the operation of the Public Switched Telephone Network which handles the 999 service in Scotland. I am advised that its immediate priority is to restore full service as soon as possible following any disruption. Following earlier failures, a range of initiatives has been put in place to improve the quality of service. These include:

  improved lightning damage protection for exchange equipment;

  installation of standby generators at all our exchange sites to ensure service continuity in the event of disruption to the public electricity supply;

  introduction of power filters to eradicate failures due to mains electricity supply problems;

  provision of alternative call routing, where possible, from the local exchange into the national network;

  development of methods to reprogram an exchange, and to enable interception of 999 calls under exchange isolation conditions;

  satellite telephones, ready for immediate deployment, to enable communication from the isolated exchange under major failure conditions;

  introduction of an arrangement whereby BT can use a helicopter to deliver personnel and equipment to site; and

  mobile exchanges and ancillary equipment on permanent stand-by, to be deployed in the event of catastrophic failure.

Telecommunications

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what contingency plans it has in place to ensure continuity of service in the event of the failure of 999 lines in the Highlands and Islands area.

Mr Jim Wallace: BT is responsible for the operation of the Public Switched Telephone Network which handles the 999 service in Scotland. I am advised that it has built up contingency plans over many years to take account of known risks and unforeseen events. These include the use of a helicopter to transport BT people to site when no other means of access is possible.

  Under major failure conditions, when exchanges are isolated from the network due to cable damage or other faults, customers continue to be able to make calls to telephone lines served by the same exchange. By implementing a call re-routing process in the isolated exchange, 999 calls can be diverted to a dedicated telephone line in the exchange itself. Where a link to the national network can still be established, perhaps by a non-standard route, the call is automatically forwarded, via the dedicated telephone line, to 999 emergency service operators in Inverness.

  Where no network link is possible, a BT engineer will staff the dedicated line and take details of any emergency calls. These are passed to 999 emergency service operators in Inverness, using either a cellphone or a satellite telephone. BT has three satellite phones which are deployed from Inverness, Fort William and Edinburgh.

  In parallel with these engineering activities, BT advises the affected Emergency Authorities of the loss of access to the 999 service in all cases where the duration of the loss exceeds 30 minutes and the number of customers lines affected is more than 500 or 50% of the exchange capacity, whichever is the less. The BT Network Management Centre starts the reporting process within 15 minutes of detecting the loss of access to the 999 service if the failure reporting criteria have been reached. It provides update reports to keep all affected emergency authorities informed of progress. A final report is distributed when service has been restored.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance it has made or plans to make available to the Scottish Youth Hostels Association following the recent terrorist attacks in the United States of America as part of any assistance to the tourist industry.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: I have asked VisitScotland to discuss with the SYHA how best they can help. VisitScotland is working with the industry and is increasing its marketing activities in those countries that offer the best prospect at this time. Funding for VisitScotland is at a record level. The Enterprise Networks have prepared advice for businesses and made that available through outlets such as the Small Business Gateway and the Local Enterprise Companies.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria were used in the recent re-appointment of two members to the board of VisitScotland whether any other candidates were considered at that time for nomination to the board and, if so, how many were considered and by what means were they identified

Mr Alasdair Morrison: The re-appointments were made in accordance with the procedures set down in the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice. Under the terms of the code, members can be re-appointed subject to a satisfactory performance appraisal of their first period of appointment.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Parliamentary Publications

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) has any plans to make the Official Report available to MSPs on CD-ROM.

Sir David Steel: Publication on CD-ROM of the archive edition of the Official Report of meetings of the Parliament, committees and written answers was approved by the SPCB on 26 June 2001. Initial development work is now being carried out; publication of the first edition is scheduled for June 2002. The CD-ROM will be available to MSPs, others in the Parliament, partner libraries and the public.

Parliamentary Publications

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Presiding Officer what the total cost was of publishing, printing and distributing the Scottish Parliament Annual Report 2000 to 2001 and how many copies have been produced.

Sir David Steel: The total cost of publishing and printing the English version of the Scottish Parliament Annual Report 2000 to 2001  was £30,862. The distribution costs were £2,450. The number of reports published was 2,500. Reports were distributed widely and, for example, were sent to organisations, representatives from which had appeared before committees as witnesses, to Scottish MPs and to international contacts.

  We will continue to review and assess the most cost-effective way of producing an annual report which fulfils its role of helping to inform the Scottish people of the Parliament’s work.